Ok, I took a quick look at the website in question. It isn't what it appears to be, but is something even more evil than piracy... near as I can tell. To gain access to the files they claim to have, you need a subscription. The subscription costs 'xx.xx'. Once you purchase the subscription, you have access. Except you don't.The files aren't there, and don't exist. The subscription doesn't give you access to anything. The banking info is going directly to a eastern bloc country. It will be used for criminal activity if at all possible. How these web sites are created is simple. They scour the internet and grab key phrases and keywords, etc... and then build up their fake web site to show up in a search list based on the phrases and keywords.It's all a ploy to get the banking information so they can post fraudulent charges.

Take one look at sites like Pirate Bay and they have people donate money to help their cause, which is, of course, the very pinnacle of irony.Someone should set up a fund for people to donate to fight FS piracy, so guys like this can be pursued. Hell, I would donate $20 or so to the cause.

His name is Marco and he lives in Borgo Maggiore, Italy. His website is friendlyduck . com . The site says it's for webmaster associates. For a $10 trial, you can start downloading commercial software for FREE. And apparently, after 14 days you will be billed for a year's worth. What a deal.

For what it's worth - and it may not be much - my Norton 2011 Internet Security "Safe Web" scanned the site for threats, found none, and says the site is in Germany.That's it.

What’s your point? …if you can’t afford it, steal it?Kids like lego…steal it and there are consequences.But kids still find a way to get it :)

I never said to do that... but that is who most of those people. They would never buy it in the first place.

Take one look at sites like Pirate Bay and they have people donate money to help their cause, which is, of course, the very pinnacle of irony.

Pirates really are the complete definition of stupid.

I never said to do that...

Sorry...I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth; I could have worded that better :)

They would never buy it in the first place.

That’s a really common belief, but I don't know if it's true.Maybe the reality isn’t so clear cut.Given no other option it’s likely many would still flight sim.And even buy an occasional add-on…like the rest of us.

Take one look at sites like Pirate Bay and they have people donate money to help their cause, which is, of course, the very pinnacle of irony.Someone should set up a fund for people to donate to fight FS piracy, so guys like this can be pursued. Hell, I would donate $20 or so to the cause.

How about a knowledge base with a keyword search dedicated to Piracy & Fraud. It could contain comments & opinions from FS users regarding not only websites to avoid, but products as well.I would have used such a site yesterday before downloading some FREE hi-res photoreal of Spain. I got one 800mb file and was after the second when an alert popped up and told me someone was stealing my passwords. They got two of them before I pulled the plug. But I wasn't quick enough. The left their calling card URL. It was a company in Samoa with an un-named owner in Australia. Now I'll be a few days late getting my customers their next update while I rebuild my computer. But it got me thinking about the worldwide reach of the FS community and how we could possibly use it as a resource. I've had site visits from every country there is. We are everywhere. A fellow simmer in Italy or Samoa would be a big help to me now. If they could even told me that " that's the way it is here " it would give me some closure. To be harmed by some unknown person from an unknown location is frightful. Perhaps our hero AvSim mentioned above can help us. They were attacked recently and they know how it feels.

Hi,I am afraid that every developper will be the target of pirates one day. You can't avoid it, even the best protected software are not immune to piracy. The good news is that those who try to get software illegally are likely to have their computers infected by viruses or be scammed by websites such as the one Larry found.Larry, keep up your good work, there will always be honest simmers to buy it.

Hi,I am afraid that every developper will be the target of pirates one day. You can't avoid it, even the best protected software are not immune to piracy. The good news is that those who try to get software illegally are likely to have their computers infected by viruses or be scammed by websites such as the one Larry found.Larry, keep up your good work, there will always be honest simmers to buy it.

Cannot agree more!

Hi,I am afraid the only way to fight piracy is to make pirates think of the efforts that are required to develop a software. I imagine the countless hours , the countless nights and days that guys such as Larry spent on their products. Stealing their hard work is a betrayal. Besides it can jeopardise future programs. When I see the current Sim-Savvy coverage, it begs for the central states. When I see the continuous improvements of the add ons, the last thing that I want is that this process comes to an end. Pirates (if any here) please :( think of it and remember , you don't rob rich people, only guys who simply try to make a living.

Hi,I am afraid the only way to fight piracy is to make pirates think of the efforts that are required to develop a software. I imagine the countless hours , the countless nights and days that guys such as Larry spent on their products. Stealing their hard work is a betrayal. Besides it can jeopardise future programs. When I see the current Sim-Savvy coverage, it begs for the central states. When I see the continuous improvements of the add ons, the last thing that I want is that this process comes to an end. Pirates (if any here) please :( think of it and remember , you don't rob rich people, only guys who simply try to make a living.

That wouldn't work - thieves are thieves and don't care.

Maybe you should start with Google... if you can't convince a huge corporation to stop indexing torrents what hope do you have against the little guy :)

Maybe you should start with Google... if you can't convince a huge corporation to stop indexing torrents what hope do you have against the little guy :)

You are absolutely right.Google is not always our friend. It is exactly as if you could find the phone number of car thieves in a phone directory instead of an autodealer phone number.Google is the pirate's friend in this case.

You are absolutely right.Google is not always our friend. It is exactly as if you could find the phone number of car thieves in a phone directory instead of an autodealer phone number.Google is the pirate's friend in this case.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of Google or any other search engine for that matter. Search engines index ALL publically accessible sites automatically via spiders and bots...there is VERY little human monitoring of the tens of millions of websites that are indexed daily by search engines. Out of those there are literally tens of thousands of questionable sites that pop up, disappear or linger about each day. Out of those questionable sites there are thousands of P2P sites that legitmately offer software, music and other downloads with the full permission of the authors - AND provide a valuable service. No not all P2P sites are bad and not all torrent sites have anything to do with warez. To in turn blame a search engine company, such as Google, to then expect them to go back and manually attempt to decide who is ligitimate or who is not, who is violating copyrights and who is not, is unreasonable and impossible due to the number of sites on the Internet. This would be the equivalent of expecting a security guard in a shopping mall to perform a background check on each and every person who walks through the door. And in this case search engines are NOT the Internet police. As is the norm on the Internet, it polices itself and law enforcement investigates any intellectual property infractions. Piracy is a blight on the software market just like crime is a blight on society. But to blame search engines as contributing to piracy is totally misguided. Search engines have the OPPOSITE effect actually because it brings pirate sites to light for all to see! The fact that very few people report them to law enforcement is the problem. If sites are violating your intellectual property then call the police, however, that is not the job of a search engine.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of Google or any other search engine for that matter. Search engines index ALL publically accessible sites automatically via spiders and bots...there is VERY little human monitoring of the tens of millions of websites that are indexed daily by search engines. Out of those there are literally tens of thousands of questionable sites that pop up, disappear or linger about each day. Out of those questionable sites there are thousands of P2P sites that legitmately offer software, music and other downloads with the full permission of the authors - AND provide a valuable service. No not all P2P sites are bad and not all torrent sites have anything to do with warez. To in turn blame a search engine company, such as Google, to then expect them to go back and manually attempt to decide who is ligitimate or who is not, who is violating copyrights and who is not, is unreasonable and impossible due to the number of sites on the Internet. This would be the equivalent of expecting a security guard in a shopping mall to perform a background check on each and every person who walks through the door. And in this case search engines are NOT the Internet police. As is the norm on the Internet, it polices itself and law enforcement investigates any intellectual property infractions. Piracy is a blight on the software market just like crime is a blight on society. But to blame search engines as contributing to piracy is totally misguided. Search engines have the OPPOSITE effect actually because it brings pirate sites to light for all to see! The fact that very few people report them to law enforcement is the problem. If sites are violating your intellectual property then call the police, however, that is not the job of a search engine.

And sorry to add, the MSFS scenery architecture can be especially vulnerable to piracy. I think aircraft are easier to protect (Abacus, although they market to a less sophisticated simmer, has a good protection scheme employed with their products), but for many products it is all too easy for people to pirate.I have a general bit of advice for all--do you like what you see from Carenado, Eaglesoft, Flight1, PMDG and even Ariane?If you do--BUY IT. Support our hobby. These people do not make millions from us. One developer I know is a man of faith, another (I believe) is in law enforcement. They have day jobs (some 24x7 jobs) and they deliver our products out of (for lack of a better word) love.As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that"Regards,John